mark fiore reminds us to be afraid

god hates phelps

or at least a federal jury does. they have awarded several million to a family whose son's funeral was interrupted by the infamous fred "god hates fags" phelps and his gang. cnn:

the family of lance cpl. matthew snyder -- who was killed in a vehicle accident in iraq's anbar province in 2006 -- sued the westboro baptist church in topeka, kansas, and its leaders for defamation, invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

church members showed up at snyder's funeral chanting derogatory slogans and holding picket signs with messages including "god hates fags."

quote of the day

while it falls under the category of "damning with faint praise," we still welcome john cole of balloon juice to the left side of blogtopia (y!wctp!), and especially like his reasoning for leaving the gop for the dems:

long story short, i got up there to register as an independent, said “fuck it,” and now i am a democrat. i certainly don’t agree with all their positions, but they are not bat-shit crazy like the gop. that has to count for something.

the letter writing chuck stops

the whole country has a short attention span

while clinton continued to separate herself from opponents who have called for an immediate withdrawal of u.s. troops from iraq — saying, “i stand for ending the war in iraq and bringing our troops home, but i also understand that it’s going to take time” — former sen. john edwards of north carolina zeroed in on clinton’s vote for a congressional resolution that declared iran’s revolutionary guard a terrorist organization.

that vote, he said, cleared the way for (ed) awol to invade iran.

ok, so here it is, 2 years after many of us crazy lefty bloggers started complaining that our country was gearing up for war with iran, and now it looks like we weren't precisely crazy, so much as early. well here's what i want to know:

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

last week we were baking...

this week....we're s h a k i n g!

an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.6 and an epicenter in the south bay shook the bay area at 8:04 p.m. tonight, rolling and jolting buildings so powerfully that it prompted some people to duck for shelter. - sfgate

broker, brokest

at the height of “subprime mania”, then, people with bad credit were given loans without having to prove income (and sometimes employment), without having to pay down payments or closing costs, and, in some cases, without even having a property looked at by an appraiser, and even at astonishingly low credit scores. these, however, were bad loans, meaning higher rates (though still scaled to credit grade), payment increase at two or three years, and substantial penalties for repaying too soon. room was even found within this general framework for people buying “investment” property. and the way that the mortgage industry got to this point was by gradual evolution, one guideline modification at a time.

from the perspective of the loan officer, these deals were really two fers. sure, the rates were going to skyrocket but no one involved believe that anyone would ever have to face making payments at those rates. the borrowers would clean their credit, season their employment, have a track record on that newly opened company, and/or any of a number of other things that would allow them to qualify for the gold standard of mortgages, a conventional loan. or, barring that (because borrowers are human, after all) the folks would come back in in two years and we’d reset them with a new subprime, thereby keeping payments down in the comfort zone, and every one would be happy and prosperous.

as the numbers of unqualified borrowers started to mount, so did the defaults. defaults flow to foreclosures and foreclosures to losses, and losses to a cut off of fresh money to subprime lenders, and the money cutoff to more foreclosures because the lending cycle ends and the piper finally must be paid full due.

thanks

once the move of skippy international headquarters is complete and we get our dsl service back, we will discuss the treatment of skippy in matt bai's book.

also, we are happy that internet ronin has added our humble blog to the high profile section of his roll. before he realizes what mistake he has made, we are pleased as a platypus to add ir to our roll, too.

down the penrose lane

mad about rudy's poetry

live from washington, dc

the brad blog is live-blogging hearings in the u.s. house judiciary's subcommittee on the constitution, civil rights, and civil liberties featuring john "minorities die first" tanner. his recent objectionable comments were originally video-taped and reported by the brad blog several weeks ago.

the fog of work

"oh, nummi hires terrorists now?" was the sort of remark he says he heard commonly. his presence among co-workers invariably brought about mention of jihad or terrorism. one day, he was told by a superior that his lunchbox needed to be searched. when he asked why, he said he was led to believe he was considered a possible suicide bomber.

"i just opened the lunch box. i was dumbfounded. i was so shameful. i didn't know what to say."

blackwater bodyguards given immunity

un-freakin'-believable.

the state department promised blackwater usa bodyguards immunity from prosecution in its investigation of last month’s deadly shooting of 17 iraqi civilians, the associated press has learned. - msnbc/ap

while secretary of state condoleezza rice told congress last week she “regrets” the lack of oversight of blackwater, she neglected to mention that she granted the blackwater guards prosecutorial immunity after the shootings. - think progress

the state department investigators from the agency’s investigative arm, the bureau of diplomatic security, offered the immunity grants even though they did not have the authority to do so, the said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing. prosecutors at the justice department, who do have such authority, had no advance knowledge of the arrangement, they added. - nytimes

the state department keeps saying that iraq is a sovereign nation...then, shouldn't iraqis decide when, where or if they try these murderers in court?

quote we love of the day

"....both mainstream parties are looking likely to nominate deeply flawed candidates. if the race comes down to hillary and giuliani, the green party could nominate big bird and win 28% of the vote. and a third party is definitely needed, since the democrats have become captives of the money wing of their party."- matt taibbi interviewed on scholars and rogues (kangaroo tail tip to c&l)

then, just when the concert had seemed to reach its pitch and about to end, [ex-gay cazy gospel singer donnie] mcclurkin returned to it with a full-blown plea: “don’t call me a bigot or anti-gay when i have suffered the same feelings,” he cried.

“god delivered me from homosexuality,” he added. he then told the audience to believe the bible over the blogs: “god is the only way.” the crowd sang and clapped along in full support.

[ed. note: what blatant bigotry! what prejudice! what outlanding intolerance! how dare he endorse the bible over blogs?]

the political implications of his performance are not clear. the concert-goers we talked with afterward were generally more focused on making allowances for mr. mcclurkin’s past homosexuality than on anything about mr. obama.

the obama campaign had appeared to be caught off guard by the reaction to inviting mr. mcclurkin in the first place, and it may have been surprised tonight by the degree to which the singer focused on himself. the other speakers and singers had avoided referencing the controversy. even an openly gay minister whom mr. obama had invited after the fact to try to appease his gay and lesbian critics spoke so early that few people heard him.

this will not endear obama to any progressive, and we would posit that anybody who was waffling or on the fence about obama will not come firmly down on the side of "how's john edwards looking?"

meantime, "ex-"gay donnie mcclurken had better watch out for the wrath of skippy, for skippy is a vengeful 'roo, and ye shall hold no other blogs above him.

iowa hearts huckabee

the university of iowa hawkeye poll puts radar way ahead of hotlips hoolihan.

ok, sorry, we'll start again.

the university of iowa hawkey poll has sens. clinton and obama fighting it out for number one among dems, while mitt "don't call me baseball glove" romney is tops for repubbbs.

but the big surprise, tho these days it's no surprise, is the surge that former alabama gov. mike huckabee is making in the polls. u of i news:

mitt romney continues to hold a strong lead in iowa among candidates seeking the republican presidential nomination. but mike huckabee's iowa numbers -- buoyed, perhaps, by growing support among evangelical christians -- have jumped significantly since august, putting him in a near-tie with rudy giuliani and fred thompson, according to a new university of iowa hawkeye poll of likely gop caucus-goers released today, monday, oct. 29, 2007.

despite giuliani's lead in most national polls, romney holds a strong lead in iowa at 36.2 percent, with giuliani second at 13.1 percent, huckabee third with 12.8 percent and thompson fourth at 11.4 percent. john mccain has 6.0 percent.

in the race for the democratic presidential nomination, meanwhile, a slip in john edwards' numbers has allowed hillary clinton and barack obama to tighten their grips on the no. 1 and no. 2 spots, respectively. among all likely democratic caucus-goers, clinton leads with 28.9 percent, followed by obama with 26.6 percent, edwards with 20.0 percent, bill richardson with 7.2 percent and joe biden with 5.3 percent.

huckabee's favorite status in the evangelical set may spell trouble for the gop, which is hanging its hat (or diamond tiara, in this case) on guiliani.

huckabee is far too right wingnutcase for mainstream america, and the gop likes the patina of daddy-protecorate that giuliani has cross-dressed himself with.

meanwhile, the la times sez it's really funny how the polls don't reflect the big hoopla that barack "to the future" obama receives at his campaign stops:

democratic pollster mark mellman, who worked on john f. kerry's 2004 presidential campaign, cautioned that it was far too early to predict a winner in iowa. kerry, he is fond of recalling, lagged in third place until a few weeks before the caucuses. that said, mellman is also puzzled by obama's poll numbers.

"there is something missing," mellman said. "he's raised money in unbelievable amounts, generated tremendous enthusiasm . . . and vast amounts of publicity. and those advantages were not given to him on a silver platter. he earned them. there is something unique and special about this guy, and i don't know why that has not translated into more support."

after watching obama speak on his des moines campus recently, drake university political science professor dennis goldford glimpsed one reason obama is not faring as well as many think he should.

"there is a tremendous curiosity factor. he radiated a certain cool that would be very attractive to college students and young people," goldford said. "for older voters, though" -- and half of caucusgoers are 55 or older -- "the music's great, but where are the lyrics? he's been trying to fill that out somewhat, but for people inclined to go to the caucus anyway, the lack of experience is significant."

here's the lyrics:

suicide is painlessand it brings on many changesand i can take or leave it if i please...

john p. "pat" philbin, fema's external affairs director, on monday was supposed to take over the public information shop at the office of national intelligence director headed by mike mcconnell. but that was put on hold so mcconnell could review philbin's record, according to dni spokesman ross feinstein.

skippy's sunday night music club

hey...we're not on fire again!

hawai'i is.

brush fires that appeared to be arson burned out of control sunday along the coast of hawaii's largest island, sending hundreds of people fleeing inland, officials said.

no homes were damaged and no one was injured, but officials on the big island worried the fires could approach residential areas with a slight change in hawaii's temperamental breezes, said duane hosaka, staff officer for hawaii county civil defense.

..nine fires appear to have been set in dry grasses along coastal roads near kamuela early sunday, hosaka said. the evacuation order affected an estimated 500 people. - ap

finally, something we can agree w/the fundies about

over at the all spin zone, there is discussion of the david kirkpatrick nytimes article that analyzes the fundamental christian movement's involvement in politics. it seems that the fundies, much like the rest of the universe, aren't too happy w/the repubbbs:

david kirkpatrick of the new york times has been following the influence of the radical christian right on u.s. politics for a long time. this morning, the nyt magazine published an extremely important article from kirkpatrick on the political evolution of the evangelical movement, and how (and why) culturally conservative church leaders are moving away from the gop.

the essence of kirkpatrick’s examination of this evolving phenomena can be summed up in a single sentence:

many evangelicals feel hoodwinked and betrayed by a republican party propaganda machine that foisted george bush on christian conservatives.

a paragraph of statistics give the reader an idea of how far bush, and by default the gop, has fallen in the eyes of the true believers:

today the president’s support among evangelicals, still among his most loyal constituents, has crumbled. once close to 90 percent, the president’s approval rating among white evangelicals has fallen to a recent low below 45 percent, according to polls by the pew research center. white evangelicals under 30 — the future of the church — were once bush’s biggest fans; now they are less supportive than their elders. and the dissatisfaction extends beyond bush. for the first time in many years, white evangelical identification with the republican party has dipped below 50 percent…

submitted for your approval: it’s not just “white evangelical identification” with the gop. the rapid dropoff in bush’s support by the christian conservative right is a reflection of the general mood of the nation. it’s not just a response to bush, but a response to the state of politics in general.

the allspinzone may be right, and, going further, awol may not be the reason people are turned off by sleazy politics; rather, awol himself may be nothing more than the logical result of sleazy politics.

net neutrality....dead?

two senators on friday called for a congressional hearing to investigate reports that phone and cable companies are unfairly stifling communications over the internet and on cell phones.

sens. byron dorgan, d-nd., and olympia snowe, r-maine, said the incidents involving several companies, including comcast corp., verizon wireless and at&t inc., have raised serious concerns over the companies' "power to discriminate against content."

..comcast -- the nation's no. 2 internet provider -- has acknowledged "delaying" some subscriber internet data, but said the delays are temporary and intended to improve surfing for other users.

verizon wireless in late september denied a request by naral pro-choice america, an abortion rights group, to use its mobile network for a sign-up text messaging program.

...at&t reportedly changed a service agreement that previously included language permitting the company to cancel accounts of internet users who disparage the company. - ap

first faux news...now faux sports?

last night, fox aired a montage prior its airing of the red sox/rockies game that celebrated great moments in world series history. “the story of the world series is told in seven chapters,” the narrator said, “each with their old tale, each with their own hero. these stories take us back in time to the place where we witnessed greatness.” ....fox also deemed president bush’s first pitch in game 3 of the 2001 world series worthy of inclusion.

...in the segment, actors playing firemen gather around the television to laud bush for “wearing our uniform” and watch in awe as bush throws “a strike.”

march in october

tomorrow, saturday, october 27, tens of thousands of people nationwide will take to the streets demanding impeachment and an end to the war. impeachbush members are mobilizing nationwide to take part in these actions. the call for impeachment is being heard coast to coast. congress is unable to hide from this constitutional requirement being demanded by their constituencies.

we are hitting the streets again on october 27 as mass actions sweep this country in mass regional demonstrations in san francisco, los angeles, new york, chicago, seattle, boston, orlando and ft. lauderdale, fl., chattanooga, new orleans, salt lake city, philadelphia, jonesboro, and others. to see the exact locations and times for the various demonstrations, go to the impeachbush homepage.

impeachbush is mobilizing buses, printing posters, placards, banners and leaflets for october 27. please join us on saturday and let the message of impeachment appear in the streets from one end of the country to the other. if you cannot come, but would like to make a donation to help others participate in the demonstrations demanding an end to the war and the impeachment of bush and cheney, you can do so by clicking this link.

if you're nearby any of the following sites, be sure to stop by and lend your support:

our state is taking a huge financial hit

john garamendi, our former insurance commissioner

is out and fighting tough for our state.

but....not a peep out of our current insurance commissioner, steve poizner. you think he might be on the "tee vee" warning the insurance companies in california to play by the rules and pay claims to the fire victims. but...no. not a freakin' peep.

you think that it could be because he's *gasp* republican?you think that it could be because he's *gasp* busy eyeing 2010?you think it could be because he's *gasp* planning on pulling a "quackenbush?"

whiskey lovers....stock up

seems the environment might put a new meaning to the word..."dry"

jack daniels water supply is running low and putting the century-plus whiskey business in jeopardy.

jerry hamilton is the distillery plant manager for jack daniels. he checks the progress of the whiskey being made at the lynchburg distillery. while doing so he finds a small problem - wasting water. - wbko

just when you thought you needed a drink watching california go up in flames.

wild about fire

the leasons fema learned at katrina

was to spin the news...quickly...to not address the reality based situation at hand.

fema has truly learned the lessons of katrina. even its handling of the media has improved dramatically. for example, as the california wildfires raged tuesday, vice adm. harvey e. johnson, the deputy administrator, had a 1 p.m. news briefing.

reporters were given only 15 minutes' notice of the briefing, making it unlikely many could show up at fema's southwest d.c. offices. they were given an 800 number to call in, though it was a "listen only" line, the notice said -- no questions. parts of the briefing were carried live on fox news, msnbc and other outlets.

johnson stood behind a lectern and began with an overview before saying he would take a few questions. the first questions were about the "commodities" being shipped to southern california and how officials are dealing with people who refuse to evacuate. he responded eloquently.

...very smooth, very professional. but something didn't seem right. the reporters were lobbing too many softballs.

..of course, that could be because the questions were asked by fema staffers playing reporters. we're told the questions were asked by cindy taylor, fema's deputy director of external affairs, and by "mike" widomski, the deputy director of public affairs. director of external affairs john "pat" philbin asked a question, and another came, we understand, from someone who sounds like press aide ali kirin. - wapo

quote of the day

the only advantage that the democrats have right now with the electorate is that they're not republicans. people aren't voting for them because the democratic name is good - they're voting for them because the republican brand has been dragged through the toilet, carried down the street on the back of a skunk, and thrown off an overpass. all it will take is 4-8 years of republicans screaming their asses off about how "evil" the majority democrats are and how terrible they've made the country and the republicans will be back in full force - like the terminator robot, or jason in his hockey mask.

hell, they recovered from nixon in basically one presidential cycle - that should have kept them in the wilderness for decades but it was just 4 years. w may be worse than nixon, but is he more than twice as worse? three times as worse? 8 years max - and i'm betting on 4 unless the dem president that gets elected next year is really fucking competent and can also walk on water and crap gold bricks on command.

it's been said before

no more $$ for dems. i even had a $100 burning a hole in my pocket when the dnc called. i love dean's 50 state approach but until he and pelosi put impeachment on the table my wallet is staying in my pocket for the "give money because they're a democrat" pitch.

lt. gov. john garamendi

down the penrose lane

not only that, norman lear is a bigot

we usually agree w/jessica and melissa, but this time, we think they're way off.

consider this episode of the comic strip crankshaft:

many of the ladies' readers, as well as the ladies themselves, think this is a joke about rape and violence against women at worst; even at best, it's a joke in which elderly women's attractability is the punchline.

we say that those folks who are up in arms over this comic are obviously people who don't know the character of ed crankshaft.

crankshaft, a 60 something grumpy bus driver, never has a good word for anybody. crankshaft relishes his misery, and especially enjoys foisting his bad mood onto everybody around him.

and speaking of mr. bunker, it seems to us that holding cartoonist tom batiuk responsible for having the same views as his creation crankshaft would be like assuming norman lear hates black people because his famous queens dock foreman did.

perhaps because skippy is first and foremost a comedian, he is wont to take the comic's side in a fracas. however, a politically insensitive ficitonal character making a deliberately rude (and politically insensitive) remark to another fictional character isn't the same as, say, michael richards joking about lynching.

now, we are not saying violence against women is funny, we are not saying elderly women aren't attacked, we are not saying them gals jes' oughtta shut up and roll with it.

but we are saying there is context in fiction, and especially in comedy. we hate to point this out, but jessica herself says on her post "i don't know much about this comic, crankshaft, in general"...

we would submit that one might want to research something before opining upon it.

when darth cheney sleeps...

thanks a whole h**l of a lot, awol

rancho bernardo residents began their journey back home with a surprise today.

they were stuck in traffic for two to three hours sitting in their cars at a standstill because of president bush's visit to their community.

police and the chp had blocked off interstate 15 ramps to west bernardo drive, which leads to the recovery center that was opened yesterday. cars lined up for miles on the freeway. - san diego tribune via tbogg

treasoners

send them to iraq....without bodyarmour.

two former top executives of the leading supplier of body armor to the u.s. military were indicted today on charges of insider trading, fraud and tax evasion in a scheme that netted them nearly $200 million, federal prosecutors said.

...brooks and hatfield also are accused of failing to report more than $10 million in bonus payments to themselves and other dhb employees to the irs. - trentonian

faux news says california fires

romneybus

media blood hound thinks that mitt made a mistake in the middle of making the mistake of attributing bin laden's sins to barack:

it's also worth examining the precise construction of his alleged blunder on monday: "actually, just look at what osam -- barack obama -- said just yesterday. barack obama, calling on radicals, jihadists of all different types, to come together in iraq." it's certainly a curious order in which this "confusion" occurs. had romney begun by saying, "just look at what obam -- osama bin laden said just yesterday," it would be somewhat more believable it was said in error. but the order is extremely awkward, demanding a rather difficult verbal contortion: romney utters the first two syllables of osama's first name, then verbally pivots to deliver the illinois senator's full name, which starts not with the similar sounding "obama" but rather with "barack." there's absolutely nothing natural about this transition: "osam -- barack..."

rather, it sounds like romney may have intended to slip obama's name in there, a premeditated talking point, but muffed it. thus, "osam -- barack" instead of, say, "osam -- obama" or "obam -- osama." what's worse, even more of a stretch of imagination, is that romney, ostensibly failing to grasp his first mistake, then repeats "barack obama" instead of osama bin laden in his following sentence.

schwarzenegger, you're fired

we wish we could say that. miriam rafferty, over at the brad blog, reports from the evacuation mess that is san diego california:

san diego county now has more refugees than new orleans after hurricane katrina. while reported loss of life thus far remains low, hundreds of thousands of acres have been scorched and countless people will soon return home--only to find themselves homeless.

governor arnold schwarzenegger and local officials have made media appearances claiming credit for swiftly responding to the disaster. “there is much more equipment available, more manpower is available, quicker action,” schwarzenegger said, according to the associated press.

what the governor failed to mention is that he vetoed four bills that would have increased staffing and fire resources after the cedar fire, at a cost of tens of millions of dollars. a fifth bill, signed by schwarzenegger, requires local governments to first submit safety plans to the california department of forestry and will not take effect until 2010, the los angeles times reported in a may 20, 2007 article titled “fire danger acute as 2003 lessons fade.” that article has since disappeared off the newspaper’s website, but a copy is here.` the same story cited dallas jones, former director of the governor’s office of emergency services and current official with california professional firefighters union. jones damned schwarzenegger for failing to provide additional firetrucks. “how many years are we since the ’03 fire siege?” he asked, “and so far, nothing.”

other unfulfilled recommendations made to schwarzenegger by his blue ribbon fire commission include replacement of aging fire helicopters, increasing staffing to assure four person crews on each state fire engine sent to major wildfires, and nighttime air drops.

addendum: politicky bitch took her family down to qualcomm stadium, and got hassled by homeland security.

double addendum: over at the dem daily, stuart o'neill makes a good case that the national multi-millionaire media's story of the good coordination and efforts by federal authorities from the national media is a complete misrepresentation.

we're always aware

kudos to the kenosha kid, who for reasons unknown to but not unwelcomed by us, has declared this week skippy the bush kangaroo week:

i was leafing through matt bai's new book in borders today, and there was a whole section puffing up the great orange satan. unfortunately, it seemed like there was a cheap shot at the expense of us lesser bloggers, with skippy the bush kangaroo serving as punching bag. in retaliation my organization, the center for sticking up for non-a list bloggers is announcing skippy the bush kangaroo awareness week. i'm hoping all fifteen of my regular readers will head over there and show him some love.

we can't honestly believe that matt bai mentioned skippy by name. but we'll take all the good thoughts from earnest bloggers like the kenosha kid that we can, and we are happy to report that two of the kid's fifteen readers have already stopped by.

firefighters in need of resources and equipment

wouldn't it be nice to have the national guard here, helping the firefighters, and doing something honorable in aiding our country instead of being cannon foder for the emperor's entertainment?some of these firefighters are working 35 hours straight...in 100+ degree weather..lugging heavy equipment...fighting the flames and the mercurial santa ana winds.

wouldn't it be nice if the spineless democrats would work 35 hours straight fighting back against this imperial president?

wonder if the rethugs wanted to stop these sources of aid at the borders?

tijuana was sending engines and its own bomberos into san diego to join the fight. and canada is sending a huge martin mars seaplane that can dump enough water to cover three acres of ground in a single pass. - san diego tribune

and, guess who's back offering his "expertise" in disaster relief and preparedness, brownie!omfg.

down the penrose lane

fireline blogging

the freeway blogger thought it was too windy to put up signs in calif today, so he did some first hand front line reporting from the fires:

standing with the crowds of newsmen and onlookers at the frontlines things were a lot more serious. firemen were spooling hoses from the street hydrants through the narrows between the houses to make a stand from the back yards of the homes at the canyon’s edge, moving quickly but not urgently, giving an overall impression that their efforts were either going to work or they weren’t: it was all up to the wind. a helicopter appeared right in front of us, coming out of nowhere from the blackness behind the houses, like something out of a movie. plumes of white smoke began mixing with the black as the hoses started running and there was a collective cheer from the crowd, followed by a gasp as a huge gust of superheated wind blew off the mountain, covering all of us with smoke and ash. it was time to go.

i’m about twenty miles to the west now, writing outside. i’ve tried listening to the news, but with so many fires going on i haven’t heard what happened to santiago canyon. little bits of ash are falling on my keyboard and it’s strange to think they may be pieces of the neighborhood i’ve been writing about.

awol, take your traveling sideshow

you had photo ops for 9/11 and then we found out that you really didn't worry your little head about osama bin laden. we heard your promises of bringing to justice those who were involved in 9/11. you lied.

you had your photo op in new orleans with the lights shining brightly only for you as the city lay in darkness. we then find out that you gave more federal money to your republican buddies than you did for those really needing aid and comfort. we heard the promises of aid and help you made to new orleans and the gulf states and those affected by katrina. you lied.

california doesn't need you nor your swarm of sycophantic political remoras. we need someone in the presidency who gives a damn about the constitution. who gives a damn about non-millionaires. who gives a damn about people who are suffering. who gives a damn about fixing what a disaster has wrought. who gives a damn about the economic health of the state, of the country more than the "political giving rangers."

california needs you to go away. we need you to go away...now. southern california isn't a federal disaster.....you are.

the horse, tater, had fallen in a trailer in the middle of the night as parcell and her husband fled the la jolla indian reservation just east of fallbrook.

they had to slam on the brakes to avoid colliding with a volkswagon that had stopped without warning on the only road out.

now, standing in the parking lot of the pala casino, matthews filled a syringe with two narcotics, torbugesic and xylazine, and slipped the needle into the horse's jugular vein.

"he's being a gentleman," parcell told the vet.

matthews came out of the trailer and closed the door behind him, muting the dreadful sounds that followed: tater, knocked unconscious, banged into one wall, then another, before collapsing to the floor with a final thud.

then silence, broken only by parcell's sobbing.

as her husband and other relatives consoled parcell, matthews finished the grim task with a needle full of pentobarbital.

in the minutes it took to slow tater's heart to a stop, parcell climbed inside the trailer, kneeled by his side, stroked his mane and whispered a tearful goodbye.

nancy pelosi gets mail

you are an embarassment to americans, nancy. representative stark spoke the truth. you can't get an impeachment investigation of crimes you helped hide for bush but you will attack a democratic representative who speaks for over 60% of the american people.

when the full history of american politics is known, you will be seen as one sad, easily maniupulated puppet of the bush regime.

oh, great

fires in southern california shut a major power line from arizona and cut power to at least 37,000 customers on monday, but the region's power grid still was able serve more than 99 percent of state utility customers, power company and state officials said. - reuters

500,000 evacuees...not including the 4 legged variety

trailers wrapped around the del mar fairgrounds yesterday morning, some waiting as long as two hours to unload some of the thousands of horses evacuated from ranches and backyard stables threatened by the county wildfires.

but by 9:30 a.m., the fairgrounds' 2,400 stalls were full. horse owners who didn't make it had to look elsewhere: to friends and family with barns or land, to an evacuation site in lakeside or stables in san juan capistrano, thermal and indio.

much of san diego county is horse country, home to thoroughbred breeding ranches and countless backyard stables housing family pets. as many as 300,000 horses live in the county, and when people flee from the fires, so do the horses.

...thoroughbred breeders, some with farms in the eye of the witch creek fire, also evacuated their animals. the golden eagle and ballena vista farms outside ramona, which rank among the most prominent facilities in the state for breeding and raising thoroughbreds, were evacuated but had escaped major damage.

thousands of people have sought shelter in schools, community centers and at fairgrounds. the largest gathering is at qualcomm stadium in san diego, where evacuees are enjoying gourmet buffets and massages, but still anxiously watching television looking for news about their neighborhoods.

we like what you've don with the place

Monday, October 22, 2007

city of del mar advising residents

at this time, we are continuing to monitor the fire situation. our understanding at this point is that the fire has hit structures in fairbanks ranch. for your safety, we are strongly advising that all del mar residents evacuate!

del mar racetrack is where animals have been evacuted from other parts of san diego that are ablaze.

it's horrific

and they expect it to get worse as we are running out of firefighters to fight it.

might have been nice to have our reservists here in california instead of iraq.

i want to commend the folks of knx1070. they do a spectacular job in keeping southern californians informed when disasters come. our local cable station here in santa barbara (cox...sucks) thought it was more important to show paid infocommercials instead of up to date fire coverage.

right wing said fred

if there's anybody failing to meet expectations more than abc's pushing daisies, it's the fred thomspon campaign. in fact, "pushing daisies" may be an apt metaphor in more ways than one.

fred "lawn order" thompson stunned the forida voters this weekend with a 4 minute 37 second speech at the annual florida repubbblican party convention. orlandosent:

republican presidential candidate fred thompson surprised most everybody saturday by speaking for less than five minutes before he thanked the assembled gop masses and ambled offstage.

thompson's speech was so short -- 4 min. and 37 seconds -- some people in the crowd mistook his conclusion as just an applause line.

he spoke far less than any of the other candidates at the evening rally. former mass. gov. mitt romney was on stage for about 10 minutes, u.s. sen. john mccain spoke for about 16 minutes and former new york mayor rudy giuliani addressed the crowd for almost 22 minutes.

but to us, the biggest joke of the whole procedure is that the candidates had to pay $100,000 each to speak to the florida repubbbs. only the gop would charge their own candidates to speak to their own constituents. now, that's capitalism!

another reason we won't vote for hillary clinton

i think it is great that the clinton campaign decided to give matt drudge the scoop on her third quarter fundraising numbers. it shows who she is. oh...look at the savvy:

that people in mrs. clinton’s campaign orbit would tip off the drudge report to its fund-raising numbers is in part a reflection of her pragmatic approach to dealing with potential enemies, like newt gingrich or rupert murdoch. but it also speaks to the enduring power of the drudge report, which mixes original reporting with links to newspaper, internet or television reports far and wide.

the site is a potent combination of real scoops, gossip and innuendo aimed at mr. drudge’s targets of choice — some of it delivered with no apparent effort to determine its truth, as politicians of all stripes have discovered at times.

aides in both parties acknowledge working harder than ever to get favorable coverage for their candidates — or unfavorable coverage of competitors — onto the drudge report’s home page, knowing that television producers, radio talk show hosts and newspaper reporters view it as a bulletin board for the latest news and gossip.

i have visited drudge maybe two times since the '04 election. that's maybe one/ten-thousandth the times i have visited eschaton and daily kos. but, for the clinton campaign, drudge is still where it's at. the same drudge that scooped isikoff and posted on the lewinsky scandal. that's the site that get's the big story from the clinton campaign.

Sunday, October 21, 2007

skippy's sunday night music club

i didn't grow up in a very political household. the only politics i heard was from my mother. i came home from grade school, where someone asked me if i was republican or democrat, and i asked my mom, "well, what are we?" she said, "we're democrats, 'cause democrats are for the working people." - bruce springsteen

to be fair, ann is only repeating the made-up suppositions found in an article on the times online, in which the second paragraph uses carefully chosen verbs to indicate cold-bloodedness on sen. clinton's part:

once the presidency was over, there was no room for socks any more. after years of loyal service at the white house, the black and white cat was dumped on betty currie, bill clinton’s personal secretary, who also had an embarrassing clean-up role in the saga of his relationship with the intern monica lewinsky.

notice three things here: first, there's no source or cites to really give a sense of whether or not there was "room for socks any more." secondly, the use of the word "dumped," rather than "given to" or "adopted by." and thirdly, nice use of the lewinsky strawman to remind everyone that the clinton = blow jobs!

(where we come from, there's a name for people who talk about sex and animals in the same sentence, and it ain't animal husbandry.)

i get a kick out of both of these stories. sox went to live with betty currie because buddy kept trying to turn sox into a chew toy and it was one or the other. ("you wanted the damned dog" was probably something bill heard said more than once in the white house.) besides, sox was chelsea's cat not hillary's cat, and chelsea was a "big girl" when her parents left the white house and could have taken sox to live with her, wherever that was. but she obviously didn't want to, so it was better for sox to go live with betty currie than end up being the reason buddy didn't have an appetite for dinner. as for buddy's subsequent demise, it is a bit hard to pin on either of them because they were both away when an employee accidentally let the dog out. (why does the woman of the house always gets blamed for these things?)

by "both of these stories," internet ronin is also referring to the other wingnut meme that hillary let buddy the dog get run over by a car, which althouse also refers to, by linking to an obviously parody piece in slate comparing the death of buddy to conspiracy theories about the death of vince foster.

then again, perhaps althouse herself is being tongue-in-cheek and satirical, witty and erudite.

yes, just like when she was angry at theat girl for having breasts. it's all a joke, right?

the straw vote that broke the camel's back

dave johnson of seeing the forest lived blogged the san mateo county presidential straw poll today, along w/mary ratcliff of pacific views (both good friends of this blog). some of what dave writes:

i am at the san mateo county expo center, where they are conducting a presidential straw poll today.

this is a large room and it is packed. it looks lime at least a thousand people have turned out. (later - just heard someone say 1600.)

along one wall are tables set up by the local democratic clubs and the campaigns. there are hillary, obama, edwards and kuchinich tables, and there is a strong kucinich contingent here. i haven't seen a dodd or biden table or sign or supporters, but i have seen people with richardson signs. and, of course draft gore signs.

i am here with mary ratcliff of the left coaster and pacific views. if i am lucky mary will let me use her camera because i loaned mine to someone who has not returned it. (hint)

the first speaker is now talking and the sound system is terrible. i'm way in the back at a press table, and there are a lot of talking people between me and the speakers. "...taking back our country ... san mateo county ... and i thank you for being here... we will have a democratic president in 2009 ..."

now congressman tom lantos is speaking. "we are here to begin the glorious process of electing the next president of the united states of america who will be a democrat. ... let me say a word about each of the candidates because any one of them will be a tremendous improvement..."

now dennis kucinich is speaking. i can't hear well from where i am... "i stand before you with a political record that is a little bit different from the other candidates... non-for-profit, medicare-for-all..." crowd all cheering ... "health care system..." i can't hear anymore... the crowd is chanting "bring them home, bring them home" ... "i'm telling you now it's time for all these candidates to say no to war against iran ...as president of the united states i'll lead america to a new era where we reject war as an instrument of policy... constitution of the united states ... a president who will stand for diplomacy ... central mission of a democratic president is to create jobs ... " ... "we used to make steel ... we used to make cars ... millions of jobs ... "

gonzo on the other end of prosecution

well..how-de-do. this is going to make a new interesting entry in gonzopedia

the u.s. inspector general may recommend criminal prosecution of departed attorney general alberto gonzales at the conclusion of an investigation, possibly as early as next month, the fired former u.s. attorney for western washington told a spokane audience friday.

...“the chief law enforcement officer for the united states should not lie under oath,’’ mckay told the bar association.

it was reported last week that gonzales has now retained a high-profile defense lawyer, and apparently is refusing to answer questions from the inspector general, which could signify the investigation is nearly complete, mckay said.

“when it lands … it is going to be an extremely negative report on president bush’s justice department,’’ mckay told the packed conference room, which included federal prosecutors and judges. - spokesman review

we're on fire....again

firefighters were battling a 400-acre brush fire that started near pepperdine university in malibu early today, prompting the evacuation of homes as well as the campus. - latimes

a wildfire whipped up by 50-mph winds consumed about 500 acres early sunday amid dry conditions in northeast los angeles county, authorities said.

..wildfires were widely expected in southern california over the weekend as hot weather and heavy santa ana winds marked the height of fire season after one of the driest years on record.- latimes

dust, ash and smoke are hanging out in the air in santa barbara. the devil winds have brought up the smoke from the other fires and the charred stuff left behind from the zaca fire. not a good breathing day.

notes from a fellow blogger who was visiting my fair city:

when i arrived in santa barbara, looming above the foothills was what appeared to be smog but was really dust being blown over the hills from the zaca fire burn area. later in the afternoon, that dust covered almost the entire city, making it difficult to breathe and dropping dark brown dirt on top of everything! to make matters worse, the winds severely kicked up, gusting to well above 60mph turning santa barbara into a huge sandblaster. - arealityofmyown

when the finnish mp speaks

people should listen.

the united states is planning to stay in iraq by building as many as 14 “permanent” bases, regardless of whether orders come from current or future us administrations to bring us troops back home. “as far i am informed, they are planning to set up permanent bases. not only one, two, three, four, but maybe 14,” finnish mp jaakko laakso told a group of saudi journalists, which included arab news, who visited the finnish parliament recently in helsinki. “it means there will be no withdrawal on a permanent basis.”

the mp, who is a member of the left alliance, pointed out that the bases were not the bases the us government plans to build between the iraq and syria borders, but were permanent bases located in the heartland of the country. “there is no difference between republicans and democrats regarding these permanent bases,” laakso added. - arab news

i ain't followin' the 2008 campaign trail...

politics has a way of staining every sphere of your life the way one rotten apple can spoil the whole barrel. how many times have we said "finally, a spine" when one dem or another gets up on its hind legs and speaks the truth, only to be disappointed later on because speaking the truth only goes so far? are you sick of that yet? because i am...

fundies heart huckabee

the family repubbblican council held a "values voter straw poll" in washington today, and tho mitt "don't call me baseball glove" romney narrowly won overall (including the online vote for a dollar poll), mike huckabee was the run-away favorite of the 952 people who actually heard the candidates speak at the event and then voted, according to politico (and we only link to them to garner the memeorandum traffic):

there's a lot of talk about romney organizing his fans to pay a dollar to join today's poll versus the actual grassroots heat that huckabee hound generated. balsun:

while 1,537 people inside the ballroom of the washington hilton cast ballots, so did many more people who were able to join the family research council online and then cast their own votes. the romney campaign had waged a concerted effort to enlist online votes from supporters of the former massachusetts governor, who was not entirely warmly received in the hall here – indeed the announcement of the results in the hall today were received with silence, another clear sign that huckabee was the winner of the hall.

but we think the big story here is that rudy giuliani not only did poorly in the poll, but also came in second (to hillary) as the "fantasy value" voters choice for least fav candidate.

boom boom boom

battered spouses

...everyone knows exactly why the republicans sent out "statement after statement" about this obscure congressman's words yesterday --- distraction. does anyone point that out? no. in fact, the damned democrats go right along with this nonsense and "hold meetings" and leak to the press about how they agree with the republicans agreeing that stark caused the distraction, and basically showing themselves to be a bunch of pathetic fumblers falling for this nonsense over and over again.

surely, they don't think they will ever be able to stop the republicans from finding some silly comment somewhere that they can get the vapors over do they? are they really battered spouses trying desperately not to say or do anything that will make their vicious, bullying batterer angry? - hullabaloo

the honorable pete stark just spoke the words that many in the country, let alone the world are thinking. he had the temerity to voice them where others could hear. oh, the shock! the horror!

would you spineless wussicrats grow a freakin' backbone and concentrate on the real points; the real isses and not this distraction. take your wussy eyeballs off the shiny objects and deal with the real issues. this administration is hellbent on destroying this country and they don't freakin' care as long as their buddies are profiteering.

the man installed as monarch...ugh, president, has no clothes; has no plan for iraq; has no plan for healthcare; has no plan for disasters hitting the country; has no plan for aiding the poor; has no plan for alternative energy; has no plan for the homeless; has no plan for transporation; has no plan for the credit disaster; has no plan to invest in the future of this country by investing in the human capital of the country's citizens (schip, etc.).

pete stark's been paying attention, he's mad as hell about the real things, and so am i. mad about the things that really matter to human lives and not some "falsified" outrage.

she's got a boatload of money in the campaign kitty

the presidential hopeful who leads in every national democratic poll as well as in fundraising is the only top-tier contender who has yet to visit washington state as a candidate.

sen. hillary clinton is finally stopping in seattle on monday, though, for an overnight visit and is appearing at no free public events. she will address the state democratic party's annual magnuson awards ceremony at benaroya hall and then raise campaign money at two private, $2,300-a-head events. - seattle pi

two $2,300 a pop rubber chicken events? and the dlc democrats are different from the republicans...how?

good news/bad news

two weeks ago our good buddy the brad blog broke this story about john tanner, the doj voting rights chief:

unbelievably, the chief of the voting section of the civil rights division, u.s. department of justice, john tanner, contends that while it's "a shame" that elderly voters may be disenfranchised by new photo id restrictions at the polls because many don't have driver's licenses, minorities don't have to worry quite as much. why? because "minorities don't become elderly the way white people do. they die first."

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